ACCORDING to consulting group SGS Economics and Planning … Australia’s economy grew by 38% during the 1990s; and by 34%, during the 2000s. However, it has only grown by just over 2% since then.

So let’s delve into the reasons behind this decline?

If you study the accompanying graph, you’ll notice that Sydney contributed around 27% of Australia’s GDP growth during the 1990s. But then that nearly halved to 14.5%, between 2000 and 2010. [Read more…]

Once again, it would appear that the recent School Holidays has meant a number of you may have also missed seeing the details on this rather unique office building — fronting Collins Street, within the Victoria Harbour precinct.

You’ll find it contains some of the most up-to-date environmental components, and it’s certainly worth a closer look — if only to keep you abreast of the very latest technology being used, with Commercial property development.

A week or so ago, I briefly explained to you the NABERS “green rating” system, as it relates to Commercial property.

Recent research (undertaken by the Universities of Western Sydney & Maastricht in the Netherlands) has been released by the Australian Property Institute & Property Funds Association of Australia, under the title of Building Better Returns. [Read more…]

.Is there a Future for Offices?

The last couple of articles have talked about all the misplaced doom and the gloom.

Plus, you also covered the various reasons why Australia overall is well placed to flourish (and not just survive) the current global distress.

A recent report on the Australian Office scene (by Morgan Stanley property research) would only tend to confirm that view. Their only concern would be the Sydney market, due to its heavy exposure to the financial sector. [Read more…]

The mid-year report from the Property Council of Australia (PCA) has confirmed a tightening of all major Office markets — except for Sydney and the Gold Coast.

As you can see from the graph, Sydney’s vacancy rate actually increased from 8.3% to 9.3% during the six months to July 2011.

For the remainder of Australia’s office markets, there was an overall improvement — as demand for space exceeded supply, and yields began to firm.

According to Peter Verwer (PCA’s chief executive): “This is a good result, especially now with a lot of uncertainty about Australia’s economic resilience … demand and absorption are well above the historical average, except for the orphan Sydney.”

From this second graph, you will also notice that the Melbourne Office market has been consistently outgrowing Sydney, since about July 2004.

Furthermore, because of Sydney’s heavy dependence upon the financial sector … this growth trend is unlikely to change any time soon.

Melbourne, on the other hand, has its Office demand spread across a wide number of sectors. And therefore, has been far less exposed to the recent global turmoil.

Bottom Line: Despite all the stock market gloom, the underlying fundamentals for Commercial property are strong — particularly in Melbourne.

And historically, it is in times like these when shrewd investors have laid the foundation for their extraordinary fortunes in Commercial property.

Yes, I know it is rather confusing. But this is merely an acronym for the … National Australian Built Environment Rating System.

Effectively, it benchmarks existing buildings against one another — where ZERO means a “Poor” rating … and FIVE indicates an “Excellent” green-rated building.

This rating system currently covers Offices, Homes, Hotels and Retail Centres — although the actual criteria do vary between the different types of buildings.

For Offices, they include aspects like … Energy, Water, Waste and the Indoor Environment. Whereas for Hotels, Retail Centres and Homes … it is only Energy and Water efficiency, which is rated.

Mandatory Disclosure

Since November 2010, owners of Commercial Offices have been required to disclose their building’s NABERS rating — whenever they sell (or lease) any space larger than 2,000 square metres.

Their NABERS rating needs to be displayed in all advertisements; and appropriate documentation is to be available upon request.

Some Exemptions are available

The common exemptions would include …

Mixed-use buildings with less than 75% Office space;

Buildings constructed or renovated within the past two years;

Lease deals for periods less than 12 months;

Strata-titled property ownership; or

Sale of a partial interest in a property.

Bottom Line: The penalties for non-compliance can be up to $110,000 for the first day; and then $11,000 for each further day of non-compliance.

However, it does provide you with a great opportunity to capture a strategic advantage … if your building holds the highest possible rating — given its age and condition.

Therefore, this system is important to ensure your property manager is fully ‘up to speed’ on all the various requirements. And if you would like to study any of this in more detail, simply go to the government’s website.

Over the past few weeks, you have been reading articles about the various Office markets around Australia.

As such, you would now be aware of how each capital City compares, in relation to its … Vacancy rates … Rental levels … and expected Capital growth.

However, most of that commentary has been focused upon CBD Offices. And as a result, people have been enquiring about just how the Suburban Office markets are also likely to perform, over the next few years.

Clearly, a rent differential exists between the City and Suburban Office markets. And obviously, that rental gap will also vary, as you move around Australia. [Read more…]

In several recent articles, we discussed the growing health of the CBD Office markets around Australia.

Melbourne still leads the other capital cities with a CBD vacancy rate of 6.2% at the end of March.

And according to Savills’ latest Office Spotlight, the number of whole floors within the city of Melbourne has fallen by some 35% — from 60 to 39 available floors, as at January 2011.

It seems that CBD tenants are scrambling to lock in larger areas, to allow for growth and avoid the expected huge rent increases over the next 5 to 7 years.

As a result, many mid-sized tenants are being pushed out into suburban locations. In turn, this is causing these vacancies to fall and rentals to rise.

As such, Melbourne’s suburban vacancy rate (at 5.8%) is now below that for the CBD.

And Colliers Research believes this could fall below 4% over the next 12 months — through a shortage of new space coming onto the market.

Likewise, Sydney and Brisbane have seen their suburban vacancy rates also decline. And net prime face rents in North Sydney are now up over $600 per sqm.

It would appear only Adelaide’s suburban Office leasing market has remained soft — despite several major sales putting some downward pressure on yields.

Bottom Line: Fundamentally, all the signs are there for continued growth in Commercial rentals and capital values over the next 5 to 7 years — despite the global backdrop creating hesitation for some investors, who are not part of the “Inner Circle”!

Over the past month or so, I’ve been making certain predictions about the Office markets around Australia.

But in a recent survey, the Property Council of Australia (PCA) now makes all of that official: Office vacancy levels have fallen to 9.5% overall — down from 10% in mid-last year. And this has been driven by strong growth in the mining and financial sectors. [Read more…]

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